“Duke and the brothers are on their way.” There’s no time for pretense. I jump right in.
“Don’t normally get you boys out this way, not since you went legit.”
“Shit’s not gotten better since you helped us in Chicago. One thing after another. And now with the Horde imploding, things have gone even further downhill.”
“Never thought the Horde would screw up so bad, man. That whole situation was fucked,” Drac says. “It was like they were asking to get caught.”
Ain’t that the truth?
“How many you expecting?” Hammer asks.
“As many as they can rally,” I answer. “Anyone they can spare. Prepare for a full house.”
Hammer looks to Drac in a silent communication before turning back to me. “Kath, my old lady, will show you to your room,” he says. “Get some food and a drink. You look like you need it.”
I don’t know that I can eat while Sneak lies on that operating table. I thank him and back out of the office. His old lady, Kath, stands just outside the door waiting. She’s been doing this a long time, knows the drill. Love Kath. She looks exactly like the type of old lady you’d see on the arm of a man like Hammer—like she could take on any brother in this chapter in a bareknuckle boxing match and come out the victor. But she’s good people, too. Takes care of the club. Momma to the men.
“He’s in the best hands,” she tries to reassure me, laying a hand to my shoulder. Momma to the men, exactly as I said.
“He’s got a wife and a little baby girl. They can’t lose him.”
“They won’t.” She moves that same hand down to squeeze my upper arm to make her point. When I nod, she drops it completely and begins walking. “Let’s get you a beer, yeah?” she says.
A beer I can do. She ushers me over to the bar, where one of their hot mamas uncaps a beer and slides it over to me. I take a long pull, swallow, and sigh. There’s too much going on to get drunk, but it can’t hurt to take the edge off my nerves.
I pull my phone out because I need to hear Hannah’s voice, though I’m not sure if I should. I stare at the thing for several moments and decide to put it away when wouldn’t you know? It rings.
Hannah.
“Hey, baby,” I answer.
“Who?” she asks, her voice tight.
I know exactly what she’s asking. “Sneak, Hero, and Boetcher. Sneak’s the worst. In surgery now.”
She sucks in a deep breath. “Will he… Will he be okay?” I hear her swallow.
Tell the truth or don’t tell the truth, that is the question. I decide to go with honesty. “I don’t know. He’s in the best hands, but I just don’t know.”
There’s sniffling on the other end of the line. She’s been friends with Sneak a long time. Been friends with Trish a long time.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“Pissed off, but yeah, I’m okay. Wasn’t hit.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t know. Sneak and Boetcher went off to do their thing and we heard the shots.” I pause for a minute, collecting my thoughts. “I’m glad I can talk to you about this stuff now.”
“Oh, Blood,” she cries. “I’m worried about you.”
“Baby, I’m fine. If you don’t want to know any more, I won’t—”
“No,” she says, cutting in. “I’m an old lady now. You need to tell me. I can handle it. It’s just… It’s just…”
“I know, baby. Trust me, I know.”
“Do I tell Brin that Hero was hurt or do I let him tell her?”
“He’s gotta be the one, babe. It’s up to the brother to tell his old lady anything he thinks she should know; you know that.”
She sighs. “Yeah, I do. But it’s hard. She’s my sister.”
“I know. It’s all hard. Every fucking bit of it. But we’ll be okay. I gotta go now, but I’ll check in again tonight, yeah?”
“Yeah,” she repeats. Then, “Love you, Blood.”
I’ll never get tired of hearing her say that. “Love you too, baby. Bye.” I hang up. I didn’t have to go, but talking to her was just making everything worse. I want to bury my face in her neck and hold on, let her use her mouth and body and comforting little whispers to take it all away.
Instead, I drink one more beer and pace the room until Hero walks into the common. He’s walking slower than usual and a bit hunched over, like he’s in pain. I’m glad he’s on our side. That’s one brave motherfucker.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Not bringing me down yet,” he answers as he eases onto a barstool. “How ’bout a shot?” he asks the hot mama. The woman picks up a bottle of bourbon, pouring two fingers’ worth into a glass, and slides it along the bar top to Hero. “Any word on Sneak?” he asks me.
“Not yet. Far’s I know, he’s still in surgery. Boetcher?”
“Getting patched up now.”
“Brothers are on their way. Han called.”
“You tell her?”
“Only that you and the others were wounded. She knows not to tell Brin.”
“Don’t know how to tell her about this. I don’t want to scare her, but I refuse to keep it from her, either.”
“Brinley’s a strong woman. Grew up in the life; she’ll get it.”
“I suppose she will. Hope this shit ends soon. We’re heading to Vegas.”
That gets my attention. “Like to gamble or…?”
“Or,” he answers, smirking. A downright devilish smirk at that.
“Wow, congratulations, brother. When did you decide this?”
“Day before yesterday when she told me I knocked her up.”
My mouth drops open. This kid was the player to end all players and now he’s so whipped he’s going to be a husband and a father?
“Fuck me,” I say.
“I know. Trust me, I know.”
“You happy about it?”
“It’s funny. I thought I’d be scared or pissed or whatever, but I’ve spent so much time around Boss and Elise, sat for Gun. I’m really good. Brin’s the one who’s scared. She’s happy but scared. I suppose if I were the one pushing a kid out of an opening only wide enough for my dick, I’d be scared, too.”
“Two more whiskeys,” I order the hot mama. “This calls for a toast.”
She refills Hero’s glass and pours a fresh one for me. I raise my arm, drink in hand. “Long, happy life to you, Brin, and your budding family.”
“To us,” he says before shooting back his drink fast enough to make even a seasoned drinker like him cough.
“God help you if you have a girl. Brin’s got those eyes that’ll have all the boys poking around.”
“Now why you have to go saying shit like that? Besides, she’s giving me a son. I don’t have to worry about a son.”
“You just jinxed yourself, brother.”
The look on his face is priceless. I laugh at his pain. Wow. Just wow. Never figured Hero to be the settling-down type. Hannah will be ecstatic.
Veronica stands in the archway between the common and the hallway. “He’s out of surgery,” she says. “He’s still out in recovery. When he wakes you can go see him.”
“Thanks,” I answer. It hardly seems like enough time has passed, but looking at my watch, two hours have passed since we arrived and he was shuttled into surgery.
Hero has his phone out and up to his ear. “Bird, baby,” he says into the line and I leave him to his call.
Sneak made it through the surgery. Thank Christ. I’m not a religious man, but I still don’t mind giving thanks. I can’t sit anymore, too antsy to sit still. The brothers can’t get here soon enough.
I walk around the common, letting myself be pulled into conversations with whatever Missouri brother wants to chat, but I’m still too antsy to stay in any one conversation too long. We’ve got too much shit going on, too much running through my brain. When Veronica comes to get me fucking finally, I give my excuse to Bud, the last brother to want to talk, and follow her back to the recover
y room.
They weren’t kidding. The surgery. The recovery room. It’s like a mini hospital back here. These boys have put a lot of money into it. ’Course, still being in the life, they need it. I’m just thrilled to see Sneak lying with his eyes open. He looks a combination of pissed and in pain.
“They give him pain meds?” I ask Veronica.
“Yeah, but there’s still gonna be pain unless we do the heavy shit and Hatchet doesn’t like to use the heavy shit until they ask for it. So far, he hasn’t.”
Right.
“Brother,” I say, stopping at his bedside. “Gave us a scare there.”
“Fuck you,” he whispers, and I laugh.
“You want heavier pain meds now?”
He winces. Trying to be tough. “I think yes,” he whispers again.
“Veronica, get this man the good stuff,” I order. She nods and moves to a cabinet where they apparently keep their meds. “I didn’t call Trish. That’ll be up to you.”
He doesn’t speak, but his eyes say, “Good call.”
“Hero’s fine. Got it in the shoulder, but Veronica here patched him up. Haven’t talked to Boetcher yet, but know she patched him up, too.”
Finally, he speaks again. It looks like it takes effort. “Brothers coming?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
Veronica takes a bag of something she got out of the refrigerator unit next to the cabinet and hangs it from Sneak’s IV stand. She goes about hooking it up to the IV’s central line. Then she hooks something else in and hands the little black thing off to Sneak. It looks like a buzzer to answer questions on a game show.
“It’s for the morphine,” she says. “Click the button when you need a booster.”
“Morphine?” I ask. “Where the fuck you get morphine?”
She snickers as she cleans up after herself. “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”
Then she leaves us alone.
“Better?” I ask Sneak.
His eyes glaze over. “Shit yeah,” he says. It must take effect pretty fast. But even I know that the side effect of morphine is that shit makes you sleepy as hell.
“Brothers should be here soon,” I say. “Then we’ll figure out what to do next.”
“The women?” he asks.
“I didn’t ask. I’m assuming they’ll bring ’em in and put the club on lockdown. Trish’ll be fine. Briar Rose’ll have other kids to entertain her. You just concentrate on getting better.”
“Yeah,” he says as his eyes droop closed. He’s out like a light. At least I got to talk with him.
I head back out of the recovery and to the room they’ve provided for me. The bed isn’t as soft as mine at home, but it’s clean. I lie down to rest a bit, and it feels like two seconds later that I wake to loud commotion coming from the hallway as someone pounds on the door. When I get up to open it, Boss and Chaos are standing there, grim looks on their faces.
“C’mon in,” I say, swinging the door open wider and stepping aside. They come in, Chaos closing the door behind him. “You got the club on lockdown?” I ask.
“Not yet. Women got guards and trails, but Duke don’t want to give away that we know what’s goin’ down. He ordered any woman who has a man gone to move up to the compound. We have the brothers charged with protecting the women standing guard to the front and rear gates and we got Tommy and his men doing patrols. Plus, since the fuckup with the Sheriff’s Department and Rodrick, they’ve been scrambling tryin’ to make amends and have patrols goin’ out too. The women are covered, brother,” Boss says.
He wouldn’t have left Elise if he didn’t think she was safe and in good hands, so I have to have faith my brothers have it handled. “Good. So what’s the plan?” I ask.
“Duke’s in talking with Hammer right now,” Chaos answers. “Once they get done, they’ll address all of us. Being VP, Boss has to get going, but he wanted to check with you before he got down to business.”
“I’m good. It’s Sneak who almost bought it. Go… be badass. Drac’s a cool guy. You won’t have trouble with him, either.”
“Good stuff,” Boss says, patting my arm before turning to leave Chaos and me in my room.
“Too much like old times,” my best friend since kindergarten says. And fuck if he’s not right. We had to leave Chicago because of this type of bullshit. My dad got a bullet in the chest and Chaos and I put a bullet in the man who did it. All these rivalries. I’m so damn tired. We try and we try and they just keep pulling us in.
“Too much,” I agree. “How’s Liv?” My little sister is his wife. Sometimes I still scratch my head at how I didn’t see that one coming, but she couldn’t have a better man at her side, even if it took me a while to realize it.
“Scared, but she’s hanging in there. She’s got her girls with her. Elise, Trish, Caity, and Hannah. Not to mention the newer old ladies. She’s more worried about you and me. But I worry about her, about this shit triggering another episode. Even with meds and therapy, that PTSD shit is a bitch.”
Fuck if he ain’t right about that. My sister suffered terrible after her kidnapping by Houdini. Went off the rails. Ran away and got caught in the sights of another crazy motherfucking stalker who abducted her, only to be kidnapped from that douche by Houdini again. It’s no wonder she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s a lot of traumatic stress to try to get over.
“How was Hannah when you left?”
“Nervous. She was okay after talking with you, but all the women are on edge. Especially the likes of Hannah and Brinley since they know exactly who and what we’re dealing with.”
“I never wanted to worry her,” I admit.
“None of us wants to worry the women. But we also can’t keep shit from them, either. They’re stronger than ordinary women. They can hack it.”
He’s right. I just have to trust the process. Isn’t that the saying?
It’s about a half hour later when Duke and Hammer gather all the brothers together. We’re going in under cover of darkness. Hero and Boetcher have to sit this one out, which they’re both pissed about, wanting to get their revenge against the bastard who shot them and Sneak.
Half hour after that, we’re quiet, surrounding the Riot from all sides.
Guns drawn; we attack.
5.
Hannah
Directly after Hannah and Blood’s call…
There’s so much to catch my girls up on, mainly the fact that I’m now officially Blood’s old lady and he’s taking our relationship “hyperdrive,” whatever that means. I’m scared and excited at the same time to find out.
I find myself saying I love you to the lunkhead whenever I talk to him now. I spent seven years fighting that emotion back, but now that the floodgates have opened, there appears to be no closing them again.
It’s my night off from the club and the men are away. They’ve brought the women who live in town up to stay at the compound, but for now, it’s business as usual. I’ve lived around bikers, the good ones and the bad ones, my entire life. I’m not sure if business as usual is to not freak us out or because there’s really nothing to worry about. I trust Blood. And I can’t let fear control my life.
I pick up my phone to call Elise at work. “Hey, girl,” she answers. “What’s up?”
“I was thinking we could go out for dinner and drinks after you all get off from work.”
“Ooh, a girls’ night out? I’m so down with that. Who you want joining us?”
“Everyone,” I answer, getting more and more excited about this little excursion by the minute. “All the girls who can come. I think we all deserve a night out, and with the men gone, what’s a more perfect time?”
“Not sure what we’ll do with the babies, though.”
“Maybe Brighton will watch them,” I offer. “She hasn’t gone out since her ordeal and I doubt we’ll get her to tonight.”
“Right,” Elise says. “I’ll call Frankie and have her invite Brighton. If she wants t
o come, we’ll need to hire a sitter. If she doesn’t, we can ask if she’ll watch them.”
“Perfect. I’ll call my sister. She can talk to Liv.”
“After Frankie, I’ll call Maryanne and Caity.”
“All right, we got this. Let me know who’s in.”
“Will do, babe,” she says back. “Talk to you soon.”
I end the call with Elise and call my sister. “Hey, Brin, we’re planning a girls’ night out. You down?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “I’m pretty tired. I think I might just sit this one out, but I’ll pass it along to Liv.”
“Do that, but are you feeling okay?” I ask. “You’ve been tired a lot lately.”
“Yeah, about that,” she says. “Growing a baby does that to you, so I hear.”
I—what? Did my sister just say what I think she said?
“Brin, are you telling me you’re pregnant?” I kind of squeal the last word out of excitement.
“Yeah.” I can hear her smile.
“Does Hero know?”
“Oh yeah. Since the day before he left. We were just keeping it on the downlow for the time being, but I couldn’t stand you not knowing. Hey—” she says suddenly. “If you all need a sitter, I’d be glad to look after the little ones. I can do that at my place, in my comfy clothes, or I can go over to anyone’s house. Either way, I’m down with that.”
“We are so talking about this more when we’re not on the phone and I can hug you. But I’ll let the others know your offer.”
I hang up the phone and after a call from Tommy Doyle’s wife Maryanne, who’s pregnant but in the later stages and thus not quite as tired as my sister, saying she’s down to dinner, and a call from Liv saying she’s down too, I get a call back from Elise. Frankie, Scotch’s beautiful, bitchin’ woman, and Caity, the First Lady of the Lords, will be there. Not surprisingly, Brighton begged off. Since the day Crass rescued her and claimed her as his old lady, she’s never wanted to leave the compound with the exception of going to and coming home from work. But she offered to watch the kids with my sister, and they’ve become good friends since my sister has been here. We hash out where we’re heading for the evening.
Blood Revealed (Brimstone Lords MC Book 6) Page 7
